Leaves of Certitude
by 0megaz0diac
Summary: A young Sylvari named Virid, has a seperate soul in his body, that of the psychopathic Xionem. These two have been quarreling over control of Virid's body ever since they appeared from the Pale Tree. As Virid attempts to live out his life in peace, Xionem constantly threatens the lives around them, especially Virid's lifelong friend Trieth.


_**I'm just uploading this on a whim, and would really like to hear if you guys want more of this. I've been looking for a long-term project for a while now, so I hope this will be it. - z0diac**_

 **Xionem**

It was a world of fire.

Flames licked across the ashen landscape, brutally mocking the earth it destroyed with it's elegant glow. The inky black sky was filled with dark clouds- no, ash.

There was crying.

I watched fellow Sylvari sobbing, throwing themselves against the walls of iron cages. The wet, stony walls of the cavern were wailing in agony.

It was beautiful.

I reveled in every second of it.

 **Virid**

Ever since I had awakened out of the Pale Tree, the dream had haunted me. What did it mean? The Dream usually was just average experiences of past Sylvari, but this one was... different. Among the usual knowledge of the previous Sylvari, were visions of terror and madness. Horror and death. I saw terrible, terrible things. I don't know how these memories have gotten into The Dream, if they were really only just memories. They could very well be something worse, in my eyes.

Visions of the future.

"Hey, come on. You need to eat something." Trieth placed some soup in front of me, to my displeasement.

"Listen, I'm just not hungry, alright? I pushed the bowl away. After a small look of concern, Trieth sighed and sat down in the rickety wooden chair opposite of where I was sitting.

"Was it him again?" She looked into my eyes with worry, and gave me an apologetic smile. "I know it must be hard for you, to keep him under control." Trieth pushed the bowl back towards me.

I sighed and defeatedly picked up the wooden spoon sitting next to the bowl.

Okay, so to explain some things; Trieth is a very good friend of mine. We've been friends almost since I've woken from The Dream. Since then, we have done everything together. And since I couldn't afford to live anywhere else, Trieth and I live out in the far reaches of the Caledon forest, in a small home, made of wood and plant material we could find in the vicinity. Away from people. It's perfect.

She's also the only one that knows about him- my other half.

His name is Xionem.

Ever since I first awakened from the Pale Tree, he's been there, in the corners of my mind. Twisting my thoughts, shouting in anger and madness. He's like another person inside of my mind.

We're always fighting for control of my body. Mostly I win, but sometimes, he manages to crack the grip I have on my physical form. That's when terrible things happen. Mostly I can prevent him from doing much, as I get forewarnings, but once he ran free.

That was when my brothers died. That was when Xionem killed my brothers.

Anyway, that's enough explaining for now, let's keep going, shall we?

As I slurped up the soup, Trieth retrieved a piece of parchment from who-knows-where. It just happened to be a list of things to do that day. As I rolled my eyes as far as I could in their sockets, I asked, "Man, you sure do love your lists."

She glanced at me with a small look of irritation. "I believe you like actually having food, and clothing. All of these lists make sure we have those." She suddenly smiled, and tossed the list onto the table. "So you get to do all of these."

I gaped at her. "All of these? Every single one?" I said, shocked. This was unbelieveable. The list must have been 3 feet long, and her handwriting was tiny.

She laughed. "Just eat your soup and get to work."

The work was long and hard that day. As I stumbled through the Caledon Forest, carrying as much firewood as I could, I noticed something quite peculiar. I still don't know how I managed to notice such a small scroll.

I stood stock still to test if someone was in my immediate vicinity, but the only thing that could be heard was the rustling of nearby leaves. Once I was certain that no one was around, I bent down cautiously and picked up the scroll, and squinted as I held it up the sun. The paper didn't look particularly old, but it still had an air of significance.

"What'cha got there?" Came a voice, bursting behind me.

I jumped a mile high, but I knew instantly who it was judging just by the voice. ",Don't scare me like that, Trieth." I turned around to find her staring at me with a look of amusement on her face. "How did you find me?" I asked.

Trieth placed her hands on her hips objectively "It seemed you were taking a lot longer for you to complete your work then normal, so I came out here to find you" She explained.

I scoffed. "Since when have I ever been late coming from work?" I remarked. Trieth raised her eyebrows questionably, and I sagged my shoulders heavily. "Okay, maybe I have gotten a bit lost a couple of times," I admitted. I stood there feebly for a moment, with an apologetic look on my face. She was a true slave driver when it came to chores. To my astonishment, Trieth suddenly smiled a bit, turned around and started to walk away "We better start heading home before it gets dark," she shouted as she looked over her shoulder. I stood there dumbly for a moment, and then finally realized how to move my limbs, and ran after her.

I caught up to Trieth a couple of seconds later, as she hadn't walked far. We started to walk in silence, taking in the scenery of Caledon Forest at dusk. The orange light radiating from the horizon mixed really well with the various shades of green and violet, making the landscape look gorgeous. After a while, Trieth took a deep breath, and spoke.

"I never had the chance to ask you this…" She said a little timidly. She kept her gaze straight ahead of her.

"What exactly happened with you, Xionem, and your brothers?" Trieth seemed a bit surprised that she even asked the question. "And none of those other bullshit stories that you kept telling me all this time."

I answered with a simple "Nothing,"


End file.
